Representative light microscopy of MCF-7 cells cultured in 2D and different 3D scaffolds over time.

<p>(A) Representative images of MCF-7 cells grown in 2D culture, showing more and denser cells over time. (B) MCF-7 cells cultured in the Matrigel group, showing formation and enlargement of multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) over time and the growth pattern looked like the classic “growth on top” method. (C) MCF-7 cells cultured in the Tris-Trypsin-Triton group, showing gradual decrease of the light transmittance of scaffolds. (D) MCF-7 cells cultured in the SDS group, also showing gradual decrease of the light transmittance of scaffolds, but presenting more transmittance of light at each time point compared with the Tris-Trypsin-Triton treated scaffolds.